By Rebecca Devine
By now, most companies understand they need to harness the power of social media and content marketing.
You’ve talked to enough marketing gurus and experts to know blogging can be a powerful way to expand your online presence and communicate thought leadership.
So you upgrade your website, include a WordPress blog, post a few recent news releases and articles, and…Nothing.
Zip. Zero. Zilch.
So what happened?
Five Reasons People Aren’t Reading Your Blog
Here are five reasons people aren’t reading your blog.
Your Headline is Boring
Today everyone wants to find out information as quickly as possible, and, if they are reading a blog, they are typically looking for a quick answer to a specific question.
Keep in mind they are probably not looking for YOUR blog, they are Googling a question and scanning through the search results to see what article looks the most relevant and interesting.
If you are writing about modular construction, for example, you could title the article “Modular Construction” or you could try something such as:
- Five Myths about Modular Construction
- Ten Tips for a Successful Modular Project
- Why Modular Design is the Future of Multifamily Construction
Another tip: People love tips. And lists. Combine the two in your headline and you have a much greater likelihood of having your article read.
You Don’t Have Pictures
Cue the whining about the death of long-form journalism; the fact that people don’t read anymore; that our attention spans have shriveled to the size of peas.
These are all legitimate gripes, but it doesn’t change the fact that people like pictures.
Dozens of studies show photos in blog posts increase readership.
The fact is, people are bombarded with thousands of messages a day, and images are great way to get your content to stand out.
If an article pops up in your news feed, and one includes a gorgeous rendering of a luxury hotel, and other just has a headline that says “new hotel,” which one would you rather read?
You can also tag photos with text descriptions to help boost your search engine optimization (SEO), so you not only enhance visual appeal, you also help boost your search engine ranking.
Your Content is Too Self-promotional
Please, ditch those news releases.
A blog must be informational and relevant if it is to be successful.
The best blogs address a “pain point” or challenge.
To generate article ideas, talk to the folks on the ground.
What are some of your client’s biggest issues, and how can your firm help solve them?
Once you a list of solid article topics, go back to the first two tips above (i.e. develop an interesting title and maybe even structure it in a list form with pictures).
But, you say, we need to include some shameless marketing plugs, don’t we?
Case studies are a great way to satisfy both the need to self-promote and address specific client challenges.
You Forgot to Tag your Keywords
Keywords are critical when it comes to driving more traffic to your blog.
They help search engines find your article.
For each blog post, think of the main key words and phrases people would search for and include them in the headline, the first sentence, the article link, and several times throughout the content of the post.
The easiest way to ensure your keywords are optimized is to get an All-In-One SEO Pack, which is a simple plugin for WordPress.
The plugin gives you a green light if your key words are optimized, so you don’t have to guess.
You Aren’t Promoting It
Your blog is not the Field of Dreams.
If you build it, you need to promote the heck out of it to get people to come.
Share each of your new blog posts across your social media networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
If you are the author, post your article on LinkedIn Pulse, and include a link back to your company blog.
Add links to recent articles in your email signature and in your LinkedIn profile.
Promote new blog content through your email newsletter.
Last, but not least, make it easy for people to share your content by adding social share buttons to each of your posts.
So there you have it. Now it’s your turn. Why do you think most blogs don’t make it?
image credit: Shutterstock
I’ll come back and share more, but just give me a few moments to appreciate the “your blog is not the field of dreams” line. #GoodOne 🙂
Why most blogs don’t make it is a challenging question (in some ways). And I mainly come at it from a personal blogger perspective which may be a little different. However, now that I am responsible for helping some authors promote themselves, including their blogs, I have a somewhat more comprehensive opinion. As you point out, there are some small but important things people can do, like a permalink that incorporates the key words instead of useless numerical code. // To a large extent it has to do with promo. Many blogs may not be perfect graphically or grammatically but ……. they show intent to relate to me as a customer and they are tended by someone who will interact with me after I comment. One person I work with frequently absolutely does not want comments. Again, I know I look at it from a comment hungry personal blogger view, but if you don’t have comments, it would be like standing at a party and one person telling you what they thought, what they wanted to do, and what they were espousing, and then walking away without a single “what do you think?” It doesn’t work in real life conversation and I don’t think it works very well in blogging.
biggreenpen I couldn’t agree more. The very nature of a blog is meant to encourage conversation, not a monologue. That being said, we also have clients that prefer to not allow comments, with the understanding that they are mostly just using their blog for SEO purposes. It can still be somewhat effective for promotion, but misses an opportunity to engage target audiences.
Not using subheadings. Writing too little or too much. Not writing well. These are a few more I might add 🙂
Rebecca Devine biggreenpen This is true (the SEO). Good point.
RobynVanPercy Amen sister.
It always amazes me how many people still confuse “blog” with “media room,” your news releases have no place here.
JeffSheehan oh I can think of more than five 🙂
m5NewHampshire LOL!!! This is the best! ^lp
iagdotme Eh, I already know a good one in my case… I never seem to post anything lately :/
ChrisWiegman Yes, I have the same problem. Excuses- not enough time, procrastination, perfectionism- etc. What is your excuse?!
iagdotme Pretty much the same as yours
ChrisWiegman I get so frustrated about it. Blogging is so important for me, so why don’t I do it? Too much resistance!
iagdotme sounds like my own struggle. So many unfinished posts, so much intention and yet I never seem to be able to actually blog.
ChrisWiegman I have just finished “The War of Art” by Stephen Pressfield which describes the struggle very clearly. Just need to do it!
iagdotme sounds like a book I need to check out myself
ChrisWiegman the first two sections are great but he goes a bit weird in the 3rd. Still worth it though.
Rebecca — this hits a little close to home. I have gained a certain “reputation,” I guess, for being, well, wordy. I think I write well, and I do try to get to the point, and I use images, and I do subheads. But lately, there just doesn’t seem to be the interest in what I have to say. I’m just not famous enough! On the other hand, the people who DO read my stuff seem to like it – there just isn’t much conversation.